“You don’t ignore it,’’ Rivers said of the losing. “I just worked every day. My mind-set with the team I had here when we struggled was: try to improve the team every day. [The Nets are] in a very similar situation because they have a lot of young guys.

“My thought was not even improving team-wise. We did a lot of individual work every single day. You just hope that at some point you would get a win, but our goal during that stretch was each individual guy. Al Jefferson, [Kendrick Perkins] all those guys, to make them better players. And you just felt that at the end of it, if they improved, then you may get some wins.’’

The Celtics have a championship-or-bust mentality. Playing the Nets - just days after facing the wreckage known as the Wizards - is a reality check, particularly for Marquis Daniels, who is a close friend of Nets guard Devin Harris.

“He’s doing pretty good,’’ Daniels said. “He said it’s kind of trying times at this point, but he’s doing OK.’’

Before coming to Boston, Ray Allen played on just four playoff teams in 11 seasons. His last season in Seattle, the Supersonics won just 31 games, then traded him to the Celtics as the team began rebuilding.

“I do believe at some point all of us in this locker room have been in that scenario, in that situation,’’ Allen said. “I don’t feel sorry for them. I believe that it’s almost like a rite of passage for most guys coming into the NBA, being part of a team where you have to learn to become a better teammate to grow and understand and learn NBA life.

“You might be playing a lot of minutes, but you have to learn what it is to be successful in this game. There’s some players that come in and won immediately, right away. I think that’s a small percentage in this game. The majority of guys have gone through a lot of lows and we appreciate the winning here.’’

“Since Marquis has been out we put a ton of things in offensively and defensively,’’ Rivers said. “He was still trying to learn the new stuff, the beginning stuff. We’re going to have to throw him in there eventually. It may be [tomorrow], but I’m just not so sure yet.’’

Daniels, who has to master three positions, chuckled when asked how much he’s learned.

“We’ve got a lot of different options out there,’’ he said. “I’ve just got to get the sets back down. It’ll come around.’’

“That’s surprising,’’ said Rivers, who is in his sixth season with the Celtics. “There’s some great coaches out there that clearly should have been doing this a lot longer than me. You know how this league is. It’s a talent-based league. If you have enough of it, and do your job with it, then you stay.’’

Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com.